Jajad Wins 1st Prize In Web Programming ContestIn an effort to discover intelligent, hardworking & available web developers to work on several challenging projects, I’m launching a web application development contest. The best and 2nd best entries will win ₦70,000 and ₦30,000 respectively, to be paid by direct deposit into their bank accounts.

BACKGROUND:The Central Bank of Nigeria regularly conducts FOREX Auctions in which they sell dollars from our foreign reserves to strengthen the naira. The participants in the auction indicate the amount of dollars they want and the exchange rate at which they want to buy the dollars. The CBN looks through the bids and selects an optimal exchange rate at which (almost) all the dollars for sale in the auction will be bought. Those who offered to buy at that exchange rate or higher will get the amount they asked for at the chosen exchange rate. Those who offered less naira per dollar than the chosen rate will get nothing. The rate at which the CBN sold dollars becomes the official exchange rate. This is simpler than what happens actually in reality, but it’s the model this contest is based on.

CHALLENGE:To demonstrate your web development skills, I’d like you to develop a proof of concept implementation of a web-app that the CBN could use to conduct FOREX Auctions as described above. Members of the public will be able to register as bidders with their real names and confirmed email addresses, and load naira into their accounts to buy dollars in the auction. They’ll also be able to withdraw dollars from their accounts after successfully buying from the CBN. The CBN governor will have a special account that can be used to load FOREX reserves and then set up auctions where fixed dollar amounts will be offered to the registered bidders. All registered bidders will get an email alert. At the end of the auction period, your web app will automatically determine the correct exchange rate, transfer dollars to the winning bidders and deduct the naira equivalents from their accounts.

TECHNICAL:• I need to be able to evaluate your development process, so make sure you use a repo. I prefer HG, but Git is great, and SVN is cool too. Commits should be frequent and well documented. • Use CherryPy 3.2.2 (latest version) as your framework, running on Python 3.2.2 (also latest verison)• Use raw SQL, MySQL 5.5 and InnoDB tables for your data. Don’t use an ORM. Provide the DB schema as a raw .sql file that creates the database.• Account balances, exchange rates, and all calculations should be accurate to 4 decimal places exactly (not floating point).• Don’t waste any time on the look in a browser. Make it look clean and usable, that’s all.

SUBMISSION:When you’re ready to submit, just send me your source code repository and CV. If there are issues, I’ll let you know so you can improve your work and re-submit. This is a sudden death project. Once I get two great entries, I’ll close the contest and award the prizes by bank deposit. Finishing quickly is very helpful, if work is good enough to win a prize. So it's a race: ready, set, go!

@dell_net: The restrictions are to ensure that the winners will be people who can work with me on new code, and perhaps work on older projects like Nairalist. Another benefit is that it will be easier to judge contestants fairly if they're using the same tools. How do you compare a PHP script with Java enterprise beans factories? :-)

@Mobinga: The code is not for my benefit; I'm not a central bank. You can open source your submission and release it on github, bitbucket, or google code. You can polish your code and present it to the CBN, after winning. I don't much care It's just a programming contest to test your skills. By participating, even if you don't win, you will have added one more item to your CV and learnt a lot about web development. It's supposed to be a really simple weekend project.

This should be easy money for any webmaster with sufficient experience. However, knowing how judgmental and mouthy Nigerians are, I prophesize that all we shall see will be folks criticizing Seun and not stepping up to the challenge. Nairaland so-called gurus, this is your time to shine. By the way, shouldn't this be in the webmaster section?

Easy money? Lol! Its like asking Architects to design a house for a specific piece of land with specific measurements for N10k instead asking for their best designs and saying its a competition.

Seun need the codes. Simples!

Setting up a competition is just a way of getting it cheap. No one will fall for it.

I don't think it's about 'business man', the OPis looking to hire and he has set an 'Aptitude Test'-which requires the skills he's looking for to solve-for prospective candidates, and even added someform of motivation (which is not even obligatory).

I am not a coder so I don't know the demands of this project. I have been, however, appalled by some of the responses on this thread asking Seun to change the contest, that he should change the contest into an invitation to bid, and that he should increase the winning prize.

Money should not be a motivating factor in everything. Prestige, and an opportunity to pad your resume, among others, should motivate entrants to participate in this competition. Imagine how saying that you won a web app contest would boost your self confidence and resume, which may lead to more money.

Even, for argument sake, that the project was a little demanding, the fact that it should be a weekend work (according to Seun) for the chance of winning $1,000 is not too bad.

Trust me dude, this project is easy. Maybe not for you. If you can't implement this in a weekend, then you need to reevaluate your skill set. Look at the specification, there is absolutely nothing difficult about implementing it. I am actually surprised that it is this simple.

With all due respect, how about you work on your website http://www.amebopost.com or present a project you have done for us to see and confirm. Instead of playing the Boogeyman and questioning others skill set. what do you think?

To sum it up, 100k is not that much. And not everyone needs a contest like this to prove there worth.

I understand where you are coming from. Seun may mean well and a bold move on his part. But this is Naija and Nairaland for that matter. Cynicism is the order of the day especially when it relates to issues like this. Some would think maybe you just need the code which is the main doough.

Actually, a more realistic approach would be. What skill set can one contribute to this project and then hear what men would bring forth.

My main specialty is mechatronics(deals with programming robots). I delved into web programming as a hobby and on a project. Will let you know on programming section when it is launched.

The logic for the app is not going to be the most complex in the world and he has said not to bother bout aesthetic and presentation.Just focus on solving the problem.

For those criticizing Seun, the operational word in his poser is 'discover'.

I hold a programming Job and this project wont do justice to my time but had it been 7/8 years ago as a student, this would have been a most exciting challenge for me.And the prize money wont do much harm for a student.

Don t be surprised that at the end of the day, you might not get anyone who will complete the job. yet young people keep crying 'no job'

Well . . . you can see why we're still stuck in the mud in naija.If we were Indians, this contest would have received like 500k entries by now. Instead, all man just dey talk tough. Everybody is a self-proclaimed 'big man' in Nigeria.

The money is not obligatory, it is simply a bonus. What Seun is really looking for is this: hardworking & available web developers to work on several challenging projects. I don't mean to insult you, but did you even read that?

Okay I hear you. Let CBN start with their official website first by upgrading it to first class level. It looks too dull and too mediocre.

Well . . . you can see why we're still stuck in the mud in naija.If we were Indians, this contest would have received like 500k entries by now. Instead, all man just dey talk tough. Everybody is a self-proclaimed 'big man' in Nigeria.

You are very correct,set of proud peeps, Would have love to test my skill but am still a beginner in python

^LOL. This is the second time that someone has complained about by Monospaced Courier New Font. May I ask why? Is it difficult to read? Does it not render correctly on your device? I would sincerely like to know.

^Actually, that is what I am doing. Working on my site(which is why I will not be participating in this contest). And my site is extremely more harder than this project. I have written an auto compiler that pulls code from the database, analyzes them, compiles them for C, CS, C++, Java, PHP, Perl and Python and uploads the result. By the way, I did not question anyone's skill set, I only said any experienced webmaster that cannot pull this off in a weekend needs to reevaluates his or herself. What have you done?

At least I have amebopost.com, what do you have?

The money is not obligatory, it is simply a bonus. What Seun is really looking for is this: hardworking & available web developers to work on several challenging projects. I don't mean to insult you, but did you even read that?

bro ur scaring beginners like me that have simple php and mysql code with baby gui java as their major achievements so far!

^LOL. This is the second time that someone has complained about by Monospaced Courier New Font. May I ask why? Is it difficult to read? Does it not render correctly on your device? I would sincerely like to know.